Apple has filed a motion to dismiss a set of class-action lawsuits, which accuse the company of falsely advertising its Siri voice assistant feature for the iPhone 4S, under the grounds that the plaintiffs did not specify exactly what claims led them to purchase the device.

The Cupertino, Calif., company was hit with several lawsuits (1, 2) against Siri this spring. The complaints take issue with the advertising campaign for the iPhone 4S, alleging that Siri does not work as claimed.

Documents filed with the court last week contain Apple's counterarguments, as noted byMacNN. The company first argues that several of the plaintiffs are "lack standing" to assert California consumer protection laws because they purchased the device and reside in other states.

"Under Ninth Circuit authority, the consumer protection laws of the state of purchase — not the consumer protection laws of California — govern such claims by out-of-state purchases," the motion read.

Apple also asserted that plaintiffs' claims do not establish a case because they "fail to allege any supposed misrepresentation with particularity." The company specifically mentioned a lack of information about "when [plaintiffs] were exposed to the purportedly misleading advertisements, which ones they found material, how and why they were false, or which they relied upon in purchasing their iPhones."

The iPhone maker said the claims relied on a "selective reading" of Apple's materials without taking into account its disclosures. Apple also argued that the Consumer Legal Remedies Act does not apply to software. Furthermore, the company said plaintiffs neglected to provide "the requisite pre-suit notice of an alleged breach of warranty" and chose not to take advantage of Apple's 30-day return policy.

Siri has been a prominent factor in Apple's advertising for the iPhone 4S. Two Siri-related television commercials, "Road Trip" and "Rock God," were specifically mentioned in some of the plaintiffs' complaints about false advertising.

The company's advertising efforts do appear to have had some success in the adoption of the service. A March study found that 87 percent of iPhone 4S owners use Siri at least once a month.

It looks like complaining the iPhone 4S should have been 'more mind blowinger' isn't going to fly. Thanks for playing guys.

They probably wanted Siri to call them a Rock God and the person asking doesn't play a musical instrument in a rock band, so in that circumstance, maybe Siri didn't feel that the person was qualified. I think Siri was being sarcastic in saying that the Nokia was the best phone on the market. Siri does have a sense of humor and is always rather dead pan in the delivery. I think they should get permission to use the voice of Spock and HAL as options. I am sure the Trekkies and the 2001 fans would love that.

That doesn't appear to be one of the defenses that Apple used - and I'm not sure it would be a particularly useful defense, anyway.

Actually they did use it as it is likely one of the 'disclosures' they mention being ignored.

That none of these folks live in or bought in California is probably enough to get the case tossed out of California. Let them try this in each of their own states and let the class be the buyers in their state. However that they had 30 days to return the 'defective' or 'unsatisfactory' product with zero Apple or carrier penalties is probably going to hurt them a lot. As well the timing of when they bought versus when the tv ads started and what they showed. If they bought in the say the first week but the Siri ads didn't start until week two then they can't really claim they bought because a tv ad showed them perfect working Siri etc